Andamans - final part

Read the earlier post here...

In the last post, I had showcased images of some of the birds we could see on our trip. Continuing that in this post, I will few more images not only restricted to birds but also covering landscapes, butterflies and some generic.

Hope to have your attention :)

Also adding few notes to help the travelers out there who intend to explore the island for some birding and travel.

Notes:
> We traveled by Air from Chennai to Port Blair and return in the same way. Blr-Chennai was covered by Shatabdi express train. Taking a stopover flight from Blr-Portable would be ideal if a good airfare offer is on.

> Standard taxi fares in Port Blair (irrespective of vehicle size and make), so chose a bigger vehicle for space and flexibility. Rates are fixed for destinations and day long hires costs are also fixed, roughly about 2500/- when we went in 2013.

> We stayed at Hotel Aparupa that is a budget hotel and mind you budget hotel fares start only from about 1500+ tax for a small and simple double room. Food is extra.

> Only two (if I'm not wrong) 'vegetarian' hotels in Port Blair and are little expensive. In general, most of the decent hotels are expensive. Don't expect non-veg food to be cheap, they are equally expensive.

> Port Blair, being an island is very small and houses most of the facilities that you would need on your trip with the airport and the harbor.

> Rates compared to any other tourism places is on the higher side and you will definitely feel it if you are traveling on your own.

> Havelock Island is by far the most popular and the touristy island, renowned for its world famous Radhanagar beach, that we visited and sure is one of the best in the world.

> Havelock Island and Chidiyatapu are the locations for scuba diving, the former preferred more, but we did it in Chidiyatapu and enjoyed it. Read it here.

> Ross Island, Viper Island, Small Andamans, Neil island are some of the important islands on the tourist circuit.

> Cellular Jail in Port Blair, Caves at Ross Island, Sunset at Havelock are some of the places/activities not to be missed.

> Vikram Shil was our guide who is a localite and knows the locations very well and is the preferred person by any individual/group visiting. He is generally booked well in advance and can be reached on +91 9434262681

> Please remember, nature can play havoc anytime it wants to and could be in the form of cyclones, tsunami or dull, cloudy days. Any amount of planning or precaution may or may not work in your favor and keeping calm and having spare days on hand is ideal.

> Again, the airport / port functions if the weather is ideal, else you are 'stuck' there till the conditions turn favorable.

> Sun rises very early here and sets very early. So, at 6pm you are staring at pitch darkness and at 5am you have bright sunshine.

> Birding in general is difficult as the canopies are very high and light reaching the base is very less and in some places nil. The birding is mostly from the roads or near marshes and not many trails inside.

> You may see snakes, birds, butterflies but sighting the big mammals is very difficult considering how dense the forests are, in fact there are no big cats in the Islands.

> Narcondam Hornbill is a bird every birder would have on his wishlist, but unfortunately the island is a no-go with permissions not given to visit as it's a secured location. Nicobar islands hold many gems and again visiting them is practically difficult and permissions, very hard to obtain.

Below is a video of the nature's wrath we felt, cyclone Lehar unleashing its fury. Sadly, no news of Andaman & Nicobars is considered worth to be of national news importance and hardly shown in the mainstream media.

Below are other images that I was able to get through my visit to the islands.

(Light availability is difficult in many places)

(boundaries are only for man!)

(Andaman Tree Nymph, a very delicate butterfly that glides)

(Brown Shrike, this is a subspecies of the mainland visitor that visits this region)

(An un-id'd snake, found it crossing the road in the evening)

(Blue-tailed bee-eater, again a subspecies that visits this region)

(White-breasted Woodswallow, found only in the Havelock Island)

(Andaman Monitor Lizard, unexpected catch from the mangroves)

(Eastern Jungle Crow)

(A couple enjoying the sunset at Radhanagar beach, Havelock Island)

That's it from me folks for now :)

Andamans birding

Day 1 - Scuba diving at Chidiyatapu
Day 2 - Jirkatang road birding
Day 3 - wash out due to Lehar cyclone
Day 4 - Chidiyatapu birding trails and local harbour
Day 5 - Chidiyatapur trails and Sippy ghat
Day 6 - Havelock Island
Day 7 - Jirkatang road birding
Day 8 - Corbyn's Cove and departure

In short, this was the summary of our week long birding and wildlife trip to the Andaman islands of which two full days were lost due to the Lehar cyclone that hampered the weather, our plans and made us miss quite a few species that were otherwise had to be seen.

Tsunami had a devastating effect on these islands and the proofs of that are still evident today with numerous localities lost and some tracts of land lost forever to the might of the sea/ocean. Lehar cyclone came in unexpected and hit with greater impact than expected (was expected to be a passing one with the impact being a gloomy half day with some showers) and Mount Harriet and Havelock islands bore most of the severity of the cyclone.

We thought of cancelling and pulling out mid way but when the cyclone hits the islands, all services are disrupted and importantly the air services are cancelled for the days till the impact reduces. So, in short we were stuck on the island and had to bear the gloomy days. Being positive thinkers and having planned and spent, we decided to complete our trip to the T and then return as per our schedule. Photography wise, it was not very fulfilling but sighting the species through your eyes and binoculars were rewarding enough.

Overall, birding in Andamans is no easy job, there are no definite trails as such and most of the forest birding happens from the road. Jirkatang trail is a traffic magnet as this road passes through the Jarawa reserve that has restricted timeline and the vehicles are always in a hurry to cover that stretch. Early mornings and early evenings are the order of the day which means early morning birding is the best bet and evening sessions would be short and a bit tricky. Darkness sets in very fast and you need to spend long evenings everyday.

Added to all the above, the vegetation in Andaman and Nicobar islands are tropical rain forests and the trees compete with each other in growing tall and at many places, the sun barely gets a chance to reach the ground that means light is quite tricky for birding. Species wise, almost all that you see in this region are either new for you (if you are visiting for the first time) or are subspecies of the mainland species. So, it's like you need to make a note of everything you see including the most common ones too as you never know for tomorrow they may be classified as a new species in itself.

For us, Chidiyatapu and Jirkatang was the best trails in terms of species seen as we got to see the Anadaman Woodpecker, Andaman Drongo, Andaman Bulbul, Andaman Serpent Eagle, Andaman Scops Owl, Andaman Cuckoo Dove, Violet Cuckoo, Andaman Nightjar, Andaman Shama, Andaman Hawk Owl, Andaman Treepie, Andaman Teal, Olive-backed Sunbird, White-headed Starling and many more species.

I'll add below a few species that I could document for you guys out there to see and enjoy from the Andaman islands. Please note they are nowhere close to good but yet want to showcase what we got to see.

(pair of Changeable Hawk Eagle)

(Andaman Coucal)

(Andaman Woodpecker, most commonly seen)

(Andaman Treepie, always prefers to be inside...)

(Red-breasted Parakeet and the moon)

(Crested Serpent Eagle, Andaman subspecies)

(Andaman / Sunda Teal, their numbers have gone down after the Tsunami)

(Collared Kingfisher, Andaman subspecies, the most common Kingfisher seen here)

(Hume's Hawk Owl, Andaman speciality)

(Andaman Hawk Owl, another Andaman speciality)

(Violet Cuckoo, one of the most colorful birds)

(Andaman Cuckoo Dove, another Andaman specialty)

(Blue-eared Kingfisher)

(this was being chased about by the bully Stork-billed Kingfisher)

I'll try and fit in shots of landscape, butterflies and few more birds in the next post.

Till then... Adios!

Deserty Rajasthan - Skyscanner

(Desert and dunes - that's Rajasthan. Photo from web)

Well, I would be the last person to submit this post..., I had no inclination and just about an hour before close thought of doing this. Yep, and that's how my travel plans also unfold almost everything at the last minute :)

(Umaid Bhawan Palace. Photo - from web)

Where I want to go - Rajasthan has been off my radar for quite long now and winters are the best months to visit the place. I would love to indulge myself in the palaces and forts and also enjoy the wildlife over there.

So, using Skyscanner, I have planned a week trip spending leisure time at Jodhpur and Mount Abu, I plan to do a leisure, luxurious, laid back trip that would help me best to enjoy the Rajasthani tradition, folklore, palaces and importantly food. My tentative schedule would be from Nov 21 over a period of 6-7 days.

My schedule would be simple and easy:-
At Jodhpur
> Reach Jodhpur flying directly from Bengaluru
> Explore Mehrangarh fort and Mehrangarh fort museum / Local cuisine / Jaswant Thada
> Explore Umaid Bhawan Palace / Osian (Khajuraho of Rajasthan) / Local markets
> Balsamand lake / Kalyana lake / Machiya safari park
> Relax / Shopping / Bazaars

(Mount Abu. Picture from web)

At Mount Abu
> Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary
> In pursuit of the Green Munia (only found here)
> Crocodile Park
> Achalgarh fort
> Temples / Sunset Point
> Shopping

(Green Munia - A strikingly beautiful bird found only here. Photo from net)

Browsing through the Skyscanner website, I found the airfare picker tool quite easy with lot of options and below would be my choices flying from Bengaluru to Jodhpur.

Booking cab was also quite simple with the option popping up on the left display asking 'Do you want to book a cab'. You click and it searches for the best deals on the same set of dates you booked your flight tickets. Easy.

Again, booking hotels was made easy with lot of options thrown in for the user. You can select based on the ratings, price, distance and popularity and you can book from the best website offering the best prices. Interesting and good analytics I should say.



Budget:
With a budget of 1Lac, I would seriously consider this as a royal vacation and intend to save some to indulge in some wonderful shopping getting souvenirs, Rajasthani handicrafts and clothes.

Air fare = 10,740/- round trip
Cab for whole duration = 13,640/- Hotels = 39,691/- + 20,619/- = 60,310/-
Food & Misc = 10,000/- (obvious that I can't show here)
Total = Rs.94690/- and I still save about Rs.5310/-

Well, dreaming isn't bad and if Skyscanner can fulfill those, I would love to dream all day long.


This post is a part of Skyscanner travel wizard activity at BlogAdda.com

2014...

The calendars change... new ones adorn our walls

Time for the seasons to roll over again... the grey hairs are well increasing!

and soon... its December again...! so what next...?

another year sets in, yet another calendar change! ... and so on...

The Wilderness is calling,

and I must go!

Gujarat Diaries: Kutch magic

Gujarat Diaries so far...

Okay, I'm skipping the introductory post for the Kutch part of my last year's Gujarat sojourn and let me take it forward with an exciting post. Read on!

After fruitful days of birding in Jamnagar in the able company of Chirag, I headed next towards Kutch or the bada Rann or to say, Greater Rann of Kutch (GRK). My bookings were already done with Jugal bhai who runs the CEDO (Centre for Desert and Ocean) cedobirding.com for the next 3-4 days.

From Jamnagar, I had booked a ticket for self in the Patel travels sleeper bus to Bhuj with the help of Chirag and he happily dropped me to the bus in the night and bid me goodbye. Patel travels is the most recommended operator in Gujarat and is known widely and is supposed to be good is what I thought! Mid way through my journey I realized half of the window would not close properly and it was freezing cold outside the wind gods were more than happy in raiding my berth time and again sending shivers down my spine. Braving the cold without a blanket and after some juggling around in the dark, found a way to keep that darn window closed or rather away from me.

Early morning as I reached Bhuj,  a vehicle sent by Jugal Tiwari was waiting for me and then we proceeded towards Moti virani, about 50kms away, an hour's drive. Soon, we reached and were welcomed by Jugal and Vaibhav. Jugal would be accompanying me for all the days I stayed at CEDO and I had an vehicle exclusively for my sojourn into the Kutch.

From Kutch or GRK, I added about 20 species of birds that I had not seen before to my list and a total of 30 odd species in addition to the many repetitions I had seen earlier in my trip, so to say it was a fantastic experience and I'm pretty sure I've head back there soon as still there are quite a few to be seen including the elusive Caracal that Jugal bhai has to show me.

Ok, back to the post... let me showcase one of the colorful bird species that I came across that are slow flyers and ground birds and their art of camouflage is their best weapon of defense. An untrained eye can hardly see them on the ground and its only when they take off in a phurrr right next to you, you realized you missed seeing something!

Here they come, the Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouses, the patterns are beautiful on them and you just cant stop admiring them :) Have a look! Enjoy!

Hold on... more to follow...!

A trekker for once…

Sid, is one of the unique personalities I have met so far, an unexplainable phenomenon, a simple yet complex down-to-earth person and a good friend. He is probably the only competitor I have had over these years in being ‘lean’ and mean and just being inches shorter than me. Routine work and an occasional visit to his native is all his life about.

On a trek I had planned, I invited him to join and having no inclination, he refused to undertake such strenuous activity and after being constantly pursued, he agreed reluctantly. As the days got closer, the excitement of this challenges and relishing it no end for once kept him occupied.

Well, he almost missed the entire plan by missing the bus and luckily hopped on in the middle to be received gleefully by us, a firm decision that would change him and challenge him over the next couple of days. With the initial stuffing’s and preparations, we started off slowly on the almost level gradient path and within walking a little distance, I turned around hearing a thud and he was on the ground, a slip and a fall.

(a trekker for once...)

Getting him up, we moved ahead and he was always in between some of us, not to lose sight of him and lest he has a fall again and as I was thinking of the same, he dropped once more now slipping on a stone with another thud. Offloading some of the weight from his back, we moved ahead in conquest of the peak we had set our sights on. The breakfast had fast disappeared and with the sun rising up, the hungry demons in our stomach had started squealing no end.

After the break, we pursued further and now the gradient became a little more steep and we were trekking right out in the open under the mercy of the sun god and it was an all out effort to keep ourselves cool and balanced carrying all the weight along. We passed this and entered a forest patch and then out into an open green meadow, Sid started to hop and jog in a way to get ahead of us and yet again landed on his back with a thud. Now, instead of the moans, he started laughing and everyone joined in (well, we were holding it back for a long time now) and the teasing started and in the process he was challenged to be stable and not fall for the rest of the trek.

Being a confident fellow, he instantly hit upon it and accepted the challenge and got lost in thoughts of the alive is awesome moments once he would have defeated us and the thought of a further fall free trek kept us going.

(a sunset view of a lifetime...)

We reached the top without any more falls as Sid was relishing the challenge and had been more careful stepping in the right places and avoiding slippery stones and carefully moving ahead balancing himself well. Tired bodies and with a little rest, we moved to a nearby hilltop for an amazing sunset view, probably one of the best so far.

Time flew as we spent our time amongst the clouds and clean, fresh air and soon we had to head back the way we came. Now betting had started on Sid’s challenge and he was to gain a lot of praises / favors if he would win the challenge, he surely was now relishing the challenge more and all the more determined.

(trekking in the mist...)

Trekking down a hill is faster but more painful as your legs have to have more balance and lot of pressure is exerted on them. It’s always advised to trek downhill in a cross manner as that helps you balance better and good shoes/sandals that do not slide also help. 3/4th of the way, Sid was just perfect and looked all set in winning the accolades, way to go.
After a small break as we resumed on a fairly even path, over a heated conversation, I cursed him to fall and in the next 10 steps, he slid and fell with a thud again and this time all of us almost fell down laughing and rolling. He had braved all the slopes and slides but had this fall on a flat surface when anybody least expected. Cursing me back, he too joined the laughter and it became so loud that our stomachs started to ache no end. Gosh, that was some wonderful moments in those days!

 (a long walk back...)

From there till the end, he had two more falls and with each fall, the laughter’s became louder and the fun part was that it was from everybody including him. All of us had relished the challenge and enjoyed it to the hilt and he almost soaked in his glorified alive is awesome moments, just missing it by a whisker.

Nevertheless, keeping aside the challenges, we all soaked in our successful completion of the trek, conquering one of the mighty beautiful peaks in the Western Ghats infused with a lot of determination, pride, laughter and team bonding. We surely relished all of this and were soaking in our own alive is awesome moments.

Drive-o-phobia

Guru, in his late twenties, small and stout, non-stop talkative person is one of the core members of my team, inseparable from the group. It’s all lively and active when he’s around and no dearth for jokes and humor. A person who believes in today and lives for today.

He knew driving and had mastered it recently just after I had done the same. For me driving was just like a fish taking to the waters, picking up the skills instantaneously. He was through the basics and was at peace driving in the city to an extent.

As a team member, we have always seen him being confident and with loads of ‘let’s do it attitude’ whatever be the situation or the challenge, as a team we have relished many challenges together as they have come.

With my driving skills now fit for the highway, we embarked on a long road journey through the nook and corner of the state, day and night, traveling through the wonderful countryside, braving the rains and cold and soaking in the clean pure air and the majestic sights that we were to witness.

As Guru knew driving, he was keen to help me out with the part and there lay our and his biggest challenge in accomplishing that as we soon realized. Behind the steering wheel, his confident voice started to jarrr, sweat brows visible on the always ‘cool as a cucumber’ face, the never stopping talkative throat became dry, slight shiver in the hands, agile reflexes getting mixed up, we soon realized this was some ‘block’ or rather ‘a fear’ enveloping him while driving on the highway.

We were a little taken aback by this, but recovering soon, we knew he had all the abilities to do it, probably just needed to come out of his shell, throw the fears away and be confident. This was a challenge for him to prove himself and a challenge for us to help our friend accomplish it and we were very sure it could be done and all of us together could soak in the alive is awesome moments.

(misty dawn break well before the ghats)

We stopped instantaneously, offered him water, spoke to him distracting from the topic, tried infusing him with confidence, egged him on and resumed our journey when he was ready. The terrain had now turned into ghats (hair pin bends and zig-zags) and the roads filled with good number of potholes, the challenge ahead of us had doubled!

He showed no signs of giving up and we made our progress slowly and steadily negotiating the potholes and the heavy truck traffic on the road. He was tense and so were we when we approached the passing trucks closer than expected but our man held his nerve and there were shouts of oohs! aahs! from the backseat, we were relishing the challenge.

Always egging him on and giving him tips to stay calm and guiding him in averting the traffic/potholes and constantly encouraging him, we were making him feel comfortable and relaxed and he was responding well trying to outdo his fears and drive confidently.

Slowly but steadily, he showed signs of coming back to his self, appearing much more relaxed than ever and the last stretch of ghats were covered in a jiffy. Soon, we stopped after the ghats were conquered and instantly he let out a wild scream, and with exchange of hi-fi, we knew his fears were now out and he would be much more confident driving in the future. A challenge for him, a challenge for us, both ending successful relishing the stiff challenge no end and soaking ourselves in the alive is awesome moments of glory and success.

(waterfalls break on the way...)

Note: Drive safe, be safe!
Speed thrills but kills!

You can challenge Virat too... here!

Lone Traveler

I started traveling in a group, a group of my friends and always preferred to travel as a group with friends or like minded people. It was fun all the way and you never knew how time flew with people around be it either the long journeys or mid-day time when you rest or the long chats in the night. I was so used to travel with others that the thought of traveling alone would push me back a bit or rather postpone or cancel the trip itself. I used to do this to accommodate people to join me.

Solo traveling was something that I never dreamt of doing nor wished for it to happen for 2 reasons, one being I didn’t want my friends to miss out on places I visit and the other reason being that I would be bored to death.

Traveling alone was a challenge to relish for me that well was being avoided by me by a safe distance for many years. Well, as the years passed by, things change and you have to step out of your comfort zone if you have to do something. Sometimes, nobody would be ready to travel along with you even with the best of their attempts and you are left to travel alone and one such instance came up when I had a fortnight long trip that had been planned for months in advance and none were available to accompany me.

Desperation soon turned into frustration and frustration into a challenge, let me do it myself in my own way, let me explore on my own, let me show the path to others, let me infuse confidence in others, let me do something new.

With the bookings done and preparations ready, there were days when butterflies were creating havoc in my stomach with thoughts of missing trains, losing valuables, getting lost bothering me no end and overcoming them was a relishing challenge in itself. I used to get myself back on track with the thought of being done with that successfully and enjoying the success and savoring the alive is awesome moments.

Overcoming all hiccups I took off with a high degree of confidence, pepping up my spirits now and then, keeping myself occupied reading books, watching movies and indulging into my camera when on field and never letting myself to be bogged down even for a while.

I let myself free, relishing the challenges that came by, may be the lost wallet incident, or may be the breakdown of the jeep in the middle of nowhere, or rushing through traffic to catch my train, or facing intimidating people.

On the positive front, I met lot of new people, made many friends, built contacts, savored local delicacies, traveled by various modes of transport, met interesting people during train journeys, was humbled by the generosity of the villagers, taken aback by shrewd business minded people and importantly relished each and every alive is awesome moment of my solo travel. Back home, I’m still relishing under the success of my maiden solo travel, I tough challenge that I had to face and pleased that I could do it, a true blue alive is awesome moment for me.

Relishing Challenges!

Relishing challenges... my way!

Being of a mild frame to look at, I’ve always been the topic for jokes and inadvertently for humor amongst people; In a way, I never bothered but relished them with glee and also housed a secret wish of achieving things that I was supposed to be not fit of…

Yezdi’s, Java’s, Bullet’s are the cult bikes that I have grown up seeing and always used to look at them with amazement and I could feel my inner thump resonate with the machine’s. But alas, owing to my slender frame, I was never given an opportunity to ride these in spite of me knowing biking! The wish soon turned into a challenge and the seed of fulfilling, relishing the challenge grew over the years secluded deep in my veins.

After years of patient wait, an impulse decision and next thing was the booking of an 350cc Royal Enfield bike done and grinning at everybody. The reason of happiness was evident but none knew the background behind it. Now, I was getting a bullet all for myself, no more asking and no more being pushed around.. but I had to wait for at least 8 months to downrun all the talkers and challengers, for that 'alive is awesome moment', for more challenges that lay ahead.

The day arrived, I was all excited right through and I could feel the instant connect with the thump pounding away instantly in my heart. As I lay my hands on the bike, the grin became wider and bigger and as the beauty came to life roaring all its might, it sure would be the beginning of a new journey together relishing challenges and enjoying alive is awesome moments.

An answer to all my detractors to say so was when I successfully completed my solo ride of 1000kms on my Thunderbird in the rains, an alive is awesome moment to say the least and a ride that would not erase out of my memory soon...

Being the adventure junkie, I’m relishing challenges and looking forward for more.